The The hit the road later this month playing their first live shows in 16 years. Today Matt Johnson announced a few more details behind the tour and unveiled the band's live lineup.
Johnson told BBC 6 Music that he wanted the lineup to tell a bit of a story about the band, so he decided the lineup would employ one member from each of The The's previous touring bands. He chose James Eller on bass (representing the Versus The World tour), DC Collard on keyboards (representing the Lonely Planet tour) and Earl Harvin on drums (representing the Naked tour). Johnson wanted Johnny Marr on guitar; due to touring commitments with his upcoming solo record Marr declined but recommended Barrie Cadogan (aka Little Barrie) who has played with Primal Scream and Spiritualized. A meeting was arranged and Johnson instantly knew Cadogan would be an excellent fit.
Johnson also revealed a bit more about what to expect at the live shows:
"For this tour I wanted to strip down many of the songs and actually reduce the sonic palette. We won’t be using any samplers, click-tracks, sequencers or synthesizers. It's just five musicians performing reinterpretations of my catalogue. The songs are not supposed to be reproductions of the album versions and many of them don't sound like they do on the old recordings."
Meanwhile the first authorized The The biography will be published next month. Long Shadows, High Hopes: The Life and Times of Matt Johnson & The The was written by Neil Fraser with the full co-operation of Johnson. Fraser was given full access to Johnson's personal archives and combed through hundreds of hours of interviews with Johnson and artists that have worked with him over the years including Johnny Marr, JG Thirlwell and Tim Pope.
Johnson is quick to point out the book is a biography, not an autobiography, and there are things that he personally would have left out and other things that he would have included. Still, he thinks fans will enjoy it, and they'll be surprised that The The's public image is at odds with the reality - the band is considered to be very serious; however they're actually always laughing behind the scenes.
Long Shadows, High Hopes: The Life and Times of Matt Johnson and The The will be published June 6th. More details on the book can be found here.
The The's world tour kicks off May 25th in Nottingham and hits North America in September. Most of the dates, including the September 21st show at the Royal Oak Music Theatre are sold out.
The The -- North American tour
Sep 14 -- Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
Sep 16 -- Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
Sep 17 -- New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
Sep 19 -- Toronto, ON @ Sony Centre For The Performing Arts
Sep 21 -- Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
Sep 22 -- Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
Sep 24 -- Los Angeles, CA @ Ford Theatre
Sep 27 -- San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic
Published May 18th, 2018